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12/12/2011

Rosenthal: Marlins should trade Hanley

You can count Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal among the growing number of people that not only think the Miami Marlins should trade third baseman(?!) Hanley Ramirez, but that they will.

His reasoning is pretty sound. First, Hanely doesn't want to switch positions. He wants to be a short stop. And we all know what a laid-back, go-with-the-flow kind of guy Hanley is. If he's not getting his way, there are going to be problems. The Marlins are acting as if Hanley is gung-ho about switching positions to make way for Jose, but Ramirez has never made such claims. And, second, despite his shoulder injury and down year last season, trading Hanley would net the Marlins some considerable talent.

New Sox GM Ben Cherington and current Cubs GM Jed Hoyer were Boston’s co-GMs under club president Larry Lucchino when the Red Sox sent Ramirez, righty Anibal Sanchez and two other minor leaguers to the Marlins for righty Josh Beckett, third baseman Mike Lowell and reliever Guillermo Mota on Nov. 24, 2005.

The Sox need two starting pitchers and a closer far more than a shortstop, but surely they would be tempted to reacquire Ramirez. Shortstop Marco Scutaro is eminently available, but the Marlins’ goal in any Ramirez trade would be to acquire a big bat and a starting pitcher.

Third baseman Kevin Youkilis could be the bat. The pitcher? Not so clear.

The Red Sox aren't getting Hanley Ramirez for Kevin Youkilis and some spare parts. Several teams (Rosenthal's complete list of 'fits' is 20 teams) are going to be calling the Marlins if Hanely is available. So the Sox are going to have to part with something real to get him.

I would think the conversation would start (and possibly end) with Youkilis and Clay Buchholz. That might get the deal done. I'm not sure the Sox would even entertain the conversation considering how thin their pitching staff is, but as a fan, it intrigues me.

I'm very high on Clay's talent, but his back scares the bajeezus out of me. It may have been a one year fluke. Maybe he's spending this offseason strengthening all the right muscles and it won't be a concern moving forward. But when you have a young pitcher whose back is so screwed up that it cost him over half a season? I'm more than happy to let that be someone else's concern.

If we do lose Clay, we have Scutaro and, more importantly, Jose Iglesias that can be flipped for a couple arms. Scutaro may net you a veteran stop-gap while Iglesias is probably worth something a little more substantial.

That all said, assuming Hanely does come available, the Sox will absolutely place a few phone calls into the Marlins; but I just don't see him coming back to Boston. While adding Hanley would make an already absurd offense obscene, trying to project a pitching rotation minus Buchholz makes me want to vomit.

Comments

You can count Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal among the growing number of people that not only think the Miami Marlins should trade third baseman(?!) Hanley Ramirez, but that they will.

His reasoning is pretty sound. First, Hanely doesn't want to switch positions. He wants to be a short stop. And we all know what a laid-back, go-with-the-flow kind of guy Hanley is. If he's not getting his way, there are going to be problems. The Marlins are acting as if Hanley is gung-ho about switching positions to make way for Jose, but Ramirez has never made such claims. And, second, despite his shoulder injury and down year last season, trading Hanley would net the Marlins some considerable talent.

New Sox GM Ben Cherington and current Cubs GM Jed Hoyer were Boston’s co-GMs under club president Larry Lucchino when the Red Sox sent Ramirez, righty Anibal Sanchez and two other minor leaguers to the Marlins for righty Josh Beckett, third baseman Mike Lowell and reliever Guillermo Mota on Nov. 24, 2005.

The Sox need two starting pitchers and a closer far more than a shortstop, but surely they would be tempted to reacquire Ramirez. Shortstop Marco Scutaro is eminently available, but the Marlins’ goal in any Ramirez trade would be to acquire a big bat and a starting pitcher.

Third baseman Kevin Youkilis could be the bat. The pitcher? Not so clear.

The Red Sox aren't getting Hanley Ramirez for Kevin Youkilis and some spare parts. Several teams (Rosenthal's complete list of 'fits' is 20 teams) are going to be calling the Marlins if Hanely is available. So the Sox are going to have to part with something real to get him.

I would think the conversation would start (and possibly end) with Youkilis and Clay Buchholz. That might get the deal done. I'm not sure the Sox would even entertain the conversation considering how thin their pitching staff is, but as a fan, it intrigues me.

I'm very high on Clay's talent, but his back scares the bajeezus out of me. It may have been a one year fluke. Maybe he's spending this offseason strengthening all the right muscles and it won't be a concern moving forward. But when you have a young pitcher whose back is so screwed up that it cost him over half a season? I'm more than happy to let that be someone else's concern.

If we do lose Clay, we have Scutaro and, more importantly, Jose Iglesias that can be flipped for a couple arms. Scutaro may net you a veteran stop-gap while Iglesias is probably worth something a little more substantial.

That all said, assuming Hanely does come available, the Sox will absolutely place a few phone calls into the Marlins; but I just don't see him coming back to Boston. While adding Hanley would make an already absurd offense obscene, trying to project a pitching rotation minus Buchholz makes me want to vomit.